While visiting from the Philippines, Michael Bernabe and his little sister Marie Bernabe pose with Japanese warrior uniforms in Miyako Mall at Japan Center in Japantown, San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, May 1, 2009. less

While visiting from the Philippines, Michael Bernabe and his little sister Marie Bernabe pose with Japanese warrior uniforms in Miyako Mall at Japan Center in Japantown, San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, May 1, ... more

Photo: Kat Wade, Special To The Chronicle

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The Geary Expressway and the Japan Center, under construction, as seen during the 1960's.

The Geary Expressway and the Japan Center, under construction, as seen during the 1960's.

Photo: Japanese American Natl. Library

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Pedestrians walk across four lanes of traffic on Webster Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, May 1, 2009. The city plans to reduce the lanes on Webster Street and make access from Geary Blvd. safer at this intersection as part of a Japantown revitalization project. less

Pedestrians walk across four lanes of traffic on Webster Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, May 1, 2009. The city plans to reduce the lanes on Webster Street and make access from Geary Blvd. safer at ... more

Photo: Kat Wade, Special To The Chronicle

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Chefs at Benihana Restaurant entertain while they cook for diners in the Kintetsu Restaurant Mall in the Japan Center in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, May 1, 2009. San Francisco is planning to revitalize Japantown by making it more accesable to foot traffic from Geary Blvd. while making pedestrian crossing safer at both Webster and Laguna Streets. less

Chefs at Benihana Restaurant entertain while they cook for diners in the Kintetsu Restaurant Mall in the Japan Center in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, May 1, 2009. San Francisco is planning to revitalize ... more

Photo: Kat Wade, Special To The Chronicle

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Kohki Ito, 8 and Marine Yamaguchi, 6, play tag around a model of the Osaka Castle in the Kintetsu Mall in Japan Center.

Kohki Ito, 8 and Marine Yamaguchi, 6, play tag around a model of the Osaka Castle in the Kintetsu Mall in Japan Center.

Pedestrians jaywalk across four lanes of traffic on Geary Blvd., in San Francisco.

Pedestrians jaywalk across four lanes of traffic on Geary Blvd., in San Francisco.

Photo: Kat Wade, Special To The Chronicle

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Gina Narcisco-Tukka helps her daughter, Jenna, 5, with her coat as they step outside the Japan Center.

Gina Narcisco-Tukka helps her daughter, Jenna, 5, with her coat as they step outside the Japan Center.

Photo: Kat Wade, Special To The Chronicle

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The city's plan to revitalize Japantown should bring more tourist's to the colorful food court in the Kintetsu Mall in the Japan Center in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, May 1, 2009. Photo by Kat Wade / Special to the Chronicle less

The city's plan to revitalize Japantown should bring more tourist's to the colorful food court in the Kintetsu Mall in the Japan Center in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, May 1, 2009. Photo by Kat Wade / ... more

Photo: Kat Wade

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S.F. searches for solution to Japan Center woes

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San Francisco's Japan Center opened in 1968 as a showcase of the era's most modern thinking in urban design.

Three cleared blocks were reconceived in an attempt to combine the best of the suburbs and city: a shopping center that mimicked the charm of Japan's traditional streets and shops, but with climate-controlled walkways and convenient underground parking.

Forty years later, the dated Japan Center, with its three indoor malls and drab, concrete plaza, is an example of what urban planners are trying to deconstruct both in San Francisco and around the country.

As many cities are struggling to undo the 1960s auto-centric version of America, they are confronted not only with the outdated design of the past, but also its structures - many built before modern codes required more seismic fortitude.

The ongoing effort to improve Japantown shows just how difficult it can be to shed the past.

The area, which at one time covered close to 30 blocks, was mostly razed as part of the "urban renewal" push of a half century ago. The malls are now outdated and at a minimum need repair.

The buildings' walls create a fortress-like dead zone on Geary Boulevard that discourages foot traffic and encourages car break-ins. The emphasis on indoor activity in what now is about nine blocks has left the streets feeling cold, barren and bereft of open space.

Most agree that someday the malls will have to go. But questions of when and how to replace them are not easily answered. Inside are scores of long-established Japanese restaurants, shops and businesses that are popular among the Japanese community throughout Northern California. Some fear that many merchants would not return if they were forced to relocate while the land was redeveloped.

"This planning process has opened the city's eyes to the need to be very sensitive about how important these malls are to the community, yet we know that at some point in the future, change is inevitable on that site," said city planner Ken Rich. "The Japan Center is not consistent with how an urban San Francisco neighborhood should work."

Repeating history?

Any major rebuilding would be extremely expensive, in part because it would require a $45 million seismic shoring up of the Japan Center's underground parking lot.

Community members believe that rent increases would follow a costly rebuilding, which could lead to gentrification.

Concerns about displacement are magnified due to the area's history. Thousands of Japanese American residents who had settled in Victorians after the 1906 earthquake were sent to internment camps during World War II.

The abandoned area refilled primarily with African American men who worked in the shipyards and helped create a thriving jazz scene that is being preserved in the nearby Fillmore district.

A Japanese American community returned after the war, but many residents were pushed out when the city's Redevelopment Agency bulldozed entire blocks in the late 1950s to eradicate perceived blight and stimulate urban renewal.

Despite all the setbacks, Japantown has held on. Some residents remain from previous eras, the neighborhood serves as a meeting spot for a broader Japanese American community, and it is home to community organizations geared toward Japanese seniors, children and families.

The Japan Center is the focal point of activity. Stores with specialty foods, candies, housewares and antiques sit alongside numerous noodle houses and other restaurants. Collectively, however, the malls feel overstuffed and redundant.

Different directions

San Francisco has one of only three officially designated Japantowns in the United States. The other two are in Los Angeles and San Jose.

"About half of the people (involved in Japantown planning) want new development because they think it would attract more visitors to their shops. Others feel that any development would chase away existing customers and it would be much harder to get them back," said Richard Hashimoto, who manages the Japan Center garage and is president of the Japantown Merchants Association.

Current planning efforts became focused in 2007 after a Japanese company sold two of the malls to Los Angeles-based 3-D. Since then, city officials, planners and community members have worked together to plot the area's future so that it is well connected to the buses that run on Geary, has open space and maintains Japanese businesses and culture.

Seismic upgrades needed

Originally, 3-D expressed interest in redeveloping the malls - possibly into condominiums and retail outlets. In October, however, the company learned that any renovation would require major seismic upgrades. The bad economy further deterred moving forward, city planners said.

For the moment, 3-D has decided not to pursue an environmental study that is required before any new project can be built. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, whose district includes Japantown, said he believes that city agencies that have a stake in the area, as well as the mayor's office, should pitch in money for the environmental review. It's unclear whether that will happen.

Sandy Mori, who chairs the Japantown Task Force, said it's unlikely that the malls will change in the next couple of years, but that the planning work will prove useful when the economy rebounds.

"We want to preserve what we have left after the historical demise of Japantown," said Mori, who also is the development director for a nearby Japanese senior center. "We're committed to economic development while maintaining our traditional businesses; it's a very difficult balance."